Mauricio Macri has been elected President of Argentina – and that is good news for the motorsport world as Macri has plans to revive the Autódromo in Buenos Aires, in an effort to increase the country’s tourist trade. The election ends 12 years of rule by the Peronist Party. Macri has been mayor of Buenos Aires since 2007 and during that time his economic development department has analysed what to do with the facility. Elsewhere in the country provincial governments had built new circuits but the Buenos Aires facility has largely faded away. The analysis concluded that the Autódromo should remain a motor racing facility and should be revamped with new businesses to help make it more sustainable. These will include a racing school, a motorsport museum, a hotel and car show rooms. The city’s ultimate goal is for a return of Formula 1, but it has long been clear that this will only happen if there is backing from the federal government. Macri is reported to have met Bernie Ecclestone some years ago to discuss the possibilities, but Argentina’s economic problems have made a race impossible, although Hermann Tilke is understood to have designed a new layout, including a suitable pit and paddock complex that will need to be built. Macri has pledged to change the country’s economic policies in an effort to boost growth and stop the inflation that has crippled the country. If the money can be found, it would take around 18 months to rebuild the race track and so the earliest time we would see a race would be at the end of 2017, presumably linked to the Brazilian Grand Prix, as always used to be the case. However it is more realistic to look at 2018 and beyond, as there is a lot to do.

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